Originally Posted by
Gino Troian
In regards to flyingeph12's responses, WHY should the customer be liable for the fact that AA can't get their .... together when it comes to upgrades on a split PNR? Should everyone know split PNR upgrades often run into issues? Why should anyone know about split PNR upgrades causing issues? This should be addressed to AA agents on how to deal with the issue and NOT for the customer to do research and understand.
I guess I disagree that a hiccup in a case like this one (where the PNRs are split and the sponsoring account didn't haven't the requisite number of stickers at the time of upgrade) equates to AA not having their **** together to the extent that OP is due some sort of compensation or refund. Additionally, perhaps it's just me based on unfounded and misguided intuition, but I question how naive or blameless the OP in this case really was, given all the little details sprinkled throughout OP's opening account. I absolutely believe AA agents should be competent at their jobs, and there's no excuse for incompetence. But OP's account makes it seem to me that OP was really much more concerned about the upgrade than making sure that baggage was checked in before the cutoff and that the companion could get on the flight—and I guess I don't have a lot of sympathy for that kind of thinking. It seems strange to me that AA agents and OP couldn't have at least made sure baggage was checked in while supposedly waiting around for a supervisor. Finally, what exactly is OP liable for? At worst, having some extra upgrades to use in the future? Again, to me this was a learning lesson, not a reason to demand compensation.
Originally Posted by
ijgordon
Yes, they will disagree. It has NEVER been a pre-requisite to have stickers in the account when the upgrade clears in advance. As others have mentioned, the stickers are only deducted at check-in, and that’s when they need to be in the account. Now certain purchase methods require advance timing before the stickers show in the account (IIRC it’s just online purchases and it takes 2 hours), but I don’t think that was the issue here.
You *do* have to have stickers to get on the airport standby upgrade list, because those clear between T-30 and T-10m and the GA is not going to process sticker purchases at that point.
Now, is there some type of BUG in AA’s system that screws the process up under the conditions here? Maybe. But I doubt it and there’s no evidence.
My understanding is that stickers are actually deducted at the time of travel (i.e., when the flight has departed). In any event, happy that OP has supporters that disagree with me. I think I learned something here; hopefully OP did too.